Forcing Me to Be Reborn?!
Chapter 259 - Chapter 259 Chapter 225 I take you back to the hotel and you

Chapter 259: Chapter 225: I take you back to the hotel, and you actually… Chapter 259: Chapter 225: I take you back to the hotel, and you actually… In the private room, Cheng Zhu’s teasing words entered Hu Yan’s ears, making her bow her head even lower as her entire face blushed furiously in an instant.

Just then, unfortunately, the waiter chose this moment to knock on the door, come in to pour some tea, and set down the small sake pot and cups that Cheng Zhu had previously taken away.

With an outsider nearby, Hu Yan’s heartbeat quickened even more, and her neck began to redden.

Cheng Zhu sat opposite, with two thoughts in his mind.

“She’s truly bold online like a devil, but in person, she’s shy like a nun. Really captures the modern online friendship.”

“And constantly blushing, what kind of constitution is that! Interesting, ha.”

After the waiter placed the sake pot and cups, he said as usual, “This is our complimentary rice wine, a signature of our restaurant. The pot and cups, handcrafted by the owner and his wife, are yours to take home.”

That made Hu Yan curious enough to lift her head and glance at the small sake pot and cups.

But then she lowered her head again immediately.

“Let’s order,” Cheng Zhu said.

He didn’t need the menu and began to order on his own.

Hu Yan only ordered a portion of squid ink sausage and a portion of cheese corn.

After the waiter left, Cheng Zhu watched as the door to the room was shut and then turned his head to find that Hu Yan had stealthily taken off her mask.

With oversized black-framed glasses on and still slightly bowing her head.

Honestly, Cheng Zhu thought she was more attractive than he had imagined.

“Your self-portrait does resemble you,” he commented.

At least the person matched the drawing.

The only thing was, the attire in the painting and what she wore now differed greatly.

Hu Yan was now wearing another hoodie, a loose gray one.

The fabric of this single item of clothing was thicker than all the fabrics in the self-portraits she had sent him combined.

Hu Yan’s embarrassment deepened when Cheng Zhu brought up the self-portrais, but it also indirectly relaxed her.

Cheng Zhu had once said that her self-portraits looked nice, the kind you could directly print into a sketchbook.

If the person matched the painting, that too was a form of compliment.

It was akin to someone saying you looked as good as your photo, similar in nature.

The only difference was that the self-portrait is… sketchbook level.

“By the way, why did you turn and run that time at the shop? Not even a greeting, that’s quite disrespectful to me as your contractor,” Cheng Zhu began to interrogate humorously.

“Well… boss, the truth is, I get really nervous in crowded places and feel quite uncomfortable,” Hu Yan explained softly, “I’m actually quite scared of places with lots of people.”

“Oh, I see,” Cheng Zhu knew about such people, and he didn’t doubt her words.

“It’s a good thing I booked a restaurant with only private rooms then,” he added proudly.

As the grilled meat arrived, they ate and talked. Hu Yan’s nervousness subsided considerably.

She was only socially anxious in crowded places; otherwise, she was fine.

After all, the two were familiar with each other online; this was just their first offline meeting.

She still had a slight nervousness but definitely not as extreme as at the beginning. By the end, they even shared a few jokes.

However, their chat was rather serious, not indulging in the kind of unserious topics they would usually discuss online.

“By the way, it just occurred to me, I still don’t know your name,” Cheng Zhu asked.

His own real name had already been exposed, but he didn’t yet know what Hu Yan was called.

“Boss, my name is Hu Xinyan.”

“Ancient moon Hu, brand new Xin, the color Yan.”

It seemed she had just slightly altered her real name for her online username.

During the meal, Cheng Zhu didn’t drink, but Hu Yan tasted the rice wine a few sips, finding it fragrant, yet she didn’t drink more.

To be precise, she didn’t dare to.

Cheng Zhu noticed this and smiled slightly.

That smile alone made Hu Yan feel somewhat shamefaced.

Their online chats had been quite explicit, with both parties clear on each other’s XP, not to mention other matters.

He knew that Hu Yan, once slightly intoxicated, would get carried away and reward herself, perhaps more than once.

Their mutual fear of a socially fatal encounter offline stemmed from this.

Cheng Zhu’s smile would have been fine, but now Hu Yan felt like dying of embarrassment.

“Er… boss, sometimes I exaggerate when I chat on WeChat,” she started laying the groundwork to explain her past language.

Cheng Zhu, being aware that he too had exposed much about himself, quickly arrived at a new tacit understanding, “Me too, me too.”

After the late-night snack, Hu Yan was about to pay, but Cheng Zhu informed her that he had already taken care of it.

“Uh, boss, weren’t we agreed that I would treat you this meal?”

She had earned quite a lot of money through Cheng Zhu over the past few months and was indeed keen to show her sincerity.

“This is Hang City, you came all the way from Shanghai, it’s not your turn to pay,” Cheng Zhu said with a smile.

Her response naturally turned into, “Then, boss, if you ever come to Shanghai, you must let me know, and I’ll treat you to a meal.”

“Sure,” Cheng Zhu smiled, “I’ll let you know when the time comes.”

After leaving the barbecue restaurant, Cheng Zhu noted that it was getting late, and since she had drunk some alcohol, he offered, “I’ll drive you back to the hotel.”

“Okay,” Hu Yan didn’t refuse this time.

Interestingly, as they walked to the car, they came across five youths who were gathered around arguing about the price of the vehicle.

“Don’t doubt it, this car really is over two hundred.”

“Isn’t this just a damn Jeep with a Mercedes badge on it? Who the hell would be foolish enough to pay over two hundred for this?”

It was normal for boys to discuss a car they saw on the street.

In a few more years, seeing a fancy car parked on the street would draw a lot of photographers.

Cheng Zhu listened to their debate indifferently. After all, the car wasn’t his.

As he approached the car with Hu Yan, the five boys were initially stunned before realizing they probably ran into the car owner, and suddenly they were awkwardly toeing the ground, thoroughly embarrassed.

Thinking of Hu Yan’s tendency to get nervous and socially anxious around people, Cheng Zhu took the initiative to open the car door for her.

Seeing that Hu Yan was still keeping her head down, he gently patted her shoulder to indicate that she should get in the car.

Once seated in the driver’s seat, Cheng Zhu noticed that Hu Yan’s face was once again flushed.

“I only gently patted your shoulder in public,” he mumbled inwardly.

Just the shoulder, right.

Don’t make it out as if I slapped that signature fat butt of yours.

But then again, given her personality and constitution, if he had really slapped that plump, shapely rear of hers, the consequences might have been unimaginable.

The hotel where Hu Yan was staying wasn’t too far from the barbecue restaurant; it was about a twelve-minute drive according to the navigation.

When the car arrived at the hotel entrance, Hu Yan waved goodbye to him.

Cheng Zhu saw her shrink a little as soon as she got out of the car, then quickly walked inside with her head down like a thief, and he thought she was quite adorable.

Hu Yan’s kind of cuteness was different from that of Lin Lu’s.

Once in her hotel room, Hu Yan took a deep breath, opened a bottle of mineral water, and took a sip.

She began to freshen up before showering and then started to fill the bathtub.

Helpless, today… she had drunk alcohol!

She soaked in the bath for a good twenty minutes or so.

She scrutinized her palms and saw they had become wrinkled from soaking too long.

After donning the hotel bathrobe, Hu Yan stood in front of the mirror and, perhaps due to the alcohol or some other reason, felt an urge to draw.

The itch to paint had returned to the artist.

She found the hotel bathrobe quite flattering on her slightly plump and curvaceous body.

So she went directly to the full-length mirror in the hotel room.

Hu Yan first threw a cushion from the sofa to the floor and then knelt on it.

It was a good thing Cheng Zhu wasn’t present.

Otherwise, in front of the full-length mirror, kneeling on the cushion, he would have recognized the pose!

There, reflecting in the mirror, Hu Yan began to sketch her own side profile.

By the time she finished the drawing, it was quite late into the night.

Hu Yan was extremely pleased with this self-portrait.

As usual, she sent the picture straight to her boss and junior sister without much thought.

But right after sending it, she suddenly widened her eyes in shock! Her whole body jolted!

She was doomed!

Things were different now!

Before, she was in Shanghai, and he was in Hang City; their relationship was one of mutual benefits and flirty online chats.

But they had just met face to face today.

He had just driven her back to the hotel.

And here she was, alone in the hotel, sending him this drawing — normally, wouldn’t that be taken as some kind of… hint?

Despite her lack of experience, Hu Yan had seen all kinds of mess on the internet!

This was practically signaling a man to launch a full-scale assault; any normal man might arrive swiftly with an army of millions.

As the realization dawned on her, Hu Yan began to blush from head to toe.

And for some reason, amidst the rapidly beating heart, she felt other foreign sensations as well.

Luckily, WeChat had just introduced the message recall feature, and after a brief mental blackout, Hu Yan began frantically trying to retract the image.

“Phew! Thank goodness, it’s late and the boss has an outing tomorrow, he must be asleep.”

“This new WeChat feature literally saved my life! Phew–!” Hu Yan let out a sigh of relief.

However, a few seconds later, she received a WeChat message from Cheng Zhu.

“I saw it,” he said.

…

(ps: second update, new month, begging for base monthly votes to charge the rankings!!!)

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